2025-07-09 ペンシルベニア州立大学 (PennState)
<関連情報>
- https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/structure-tick-borne-virus-revealed-atomic-resolution-first-time
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw7700
Powassanマダニ媒介フラビウイルスキメラの原子分解能構造 Atomic-resolution structure of a chimeric Powassan tick-borne flavivirus
Sayan Das, Anoop Narayanan, Anqi Wang, Ibrahim M. Moustafa, […] , and Susan L. Hafenstein
Science Advances Published:9 Jul 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adw7700
Abstract
Powassan virus (POWV) is an emerging tick-borne flavivirus for which no vaccine or antiviral treatment exists. The incidence of human infections of POWV in North America has been increasing because of the expanding distribution of the tick vector Ixodes scapularis that transmits POWV to humans. To mitigate the dangers of handling a risk group 3 human pathogen, a chimeric virus was constructed from the genetic backbone of a yellow fever virus vaccine strain 17D (YFV-17D) and the external structural proteins of POWV lineage II. The chimera had a comparable phenotype as POWV. The atomic resolution of yellow fever virus-Powassan virus chimera (yPOWV) structure was built without ambiguity, revealing surface glycans and lipid pocket factors. The similarity to other flavivirus structures and the phenotype similar to YFV-17D suggest that there could be future potential as a vaccine candidate.
